Articulating American Principles & Values

Rep Allen West “Happy Birthday to Our Constitutional Republic”

(WASHINGTON)— Congressman Allen West (R-FL) released this statement today:

Happy Birthday to Our Constitutional Republic

Today we come together as Americans to celebrate the day on which we declared our independence from Great Britain. Fifty-six rebels came together 236 years ago in the heat of a Philadelphia summer to write a declaration the likes of which had never occurred in recorded history.

As lawyers, merchants, farmers and land owners, they had plenty to lose. But as revolutionaries, fighting against an imperial, despotic ruler, they had everything to gain. Their goal was to establish a new form of government which derived its power from the individual and not from the monarch. Our Founders shared a unified vision for our nation. They understood this unity of the many was necessary to uphold the sovereignty of the individual, and the fundamental rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

Then, they took to the battlefield to secure this liberty. And since the founding of our nation, we have taken to the battlefield on numerous occasions to defend our freedoms and our way of life. Today we remember the men who laid down their lives at Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, Valley Forge and Yorktown to secure our freedom, and all service members who paid the ultimate sacrifice in all battles throughout our nation’s history to preserve our cherished freedoms.

Founding Father John Adams wrote his wife, Abigail, regarding the signing of the Declaration of Independence “I believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding generations as the great anniversary festival… It ought to be celebrated by pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other…”

Today from sea to shining sea we will light up the skies with fireworks in a celebration of the longest enduring Constitutional Republic, and in remembrance of the men who mutually pledged their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor to create the United States of America.